file: /pub/resources/text/ProLife.News/1993: PLN-0312.TXT
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Life Communications - Volume 3, No. 12 June, 1993
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This Pro-Life Newsletter is intended to provide articles and news information
to those interested in Pro-Life Issues. All submissions should be sent to the
editor, Steve (frezza@ee.pitt.edu).
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1) Across the Pond: Germany
A Victory in the Constitutional Court
At the end of May, the German Constitutional Court (Germany's highest court)
overturned highly-controversial legislation that would have legalized abortion.
The ruling declared abortion to be illegal but not a punishable offense (within
the first three months of pregnancy). One of the major impacts of the court
ruling is that abortions cannot be reimbursed by health care or performed at
state hospitals.
The ruling touches on a particularly tense point in the unification process, in
that abortion was free and strongly encouraged in the formerly communist
eastern Germany. There has always been a strong pro-life sentiment in western
Germany, who's constitution includes a statement that "The dignity of man is
inviolable." In keeping with this statement, the Constitutional Court's ruling
stated that prior to undergoing an abortion, a woman must visit a recognized
advisory center for counseling that focuses on "the protection of unborn life."
The court struck down the pro-abortion bill that had been passed by a 357-284
vote last June. This bill was the result of several years of controversy and
several failed attempts to merge East and West German abortion legislation
following the 1990 unification. The bill would have legalized abortion during
the first three months of pregnancy, but was blocked by temporary order last
August in response to a complaint by 249 conservative deputies and the
government of the state of Bavaria.
Chancellor Kohl welcomed the ruling because it clearly advocates the protection
of unborn life and he urged lawmakers to draw up new legislation along the
lines laid down by the court. The court ruling amounts to temporary legislation
and will come into effect June 16, 1993, replacing separate laws inherited from
unification under which abortion is generally illegal in western Germany and
legal in eastern Germany.
To get an idea of the differences between the east and west german practices of
abortion, here are a few statistics: In 1991, about 50,000 women underwent
abortion in eastern Germany. In 1992, West Germany recorded a total of 74,500
legal abortions in the much more populous western Germany, but medical experts
believe the figure could be twice as high. Abortion has been generally illegal
in western Germany, however women claiming desperate social, physical or mental
situations could abort their children legally.
[ Based on my rough remembrance of German population statistics, the 1991
abortion rate for eastern Germany was a little less than three times higher
than the 1992 rate for western Germany, and a little more that half of that for
the United States. Ed. ]
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2) Pro-Abortion Vandalism Makes the Press
Five Boston-area Catholic Churches were vandalized, having glue poured into the
locks of the churches. Evidently, feminist symbols were left, along with notes
announcing the perpetrator's opposition to `antichoice terrorists.' The glue
attacks began on Easter Sunday, April 11, and glue has been poured in the locks
of church and other parish buildings in what appears to have been a similar
pattern at the five different parishes.
Needless to say, the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston blamed unknown proabortion
activists for the damage - "by persons attempting to protest and/or interfere
with peaceful prolife gatherings," according to Auxiliary Bishop Hughes.
Hughes was also quoted as saying that "the archdiocese wishes to protest this
anonymous attack on church property as well as the intolerance and bigotry it
represents."
In one case, a message was left rolled up in a plastic Easter egg left in front
of glued doors at St. James Church in Stoughton. That message complained that
the church was "a breeding ground for hatred of women" and blamed it for the
murder of a doctor at a Florida abortion clinic. Another message read "Women
are not incubators; abortion is not murder."
The Boston Globe, noted in the past for its blatant support of anti-Catholic
rhetoric, made it a point to get a quote from a group called `Catholics' for a
Free Choice. Rosemary Trowbridge of CFFC said, "The prochoice people I know
are concerned with passing legislation. This is so silly, so immature...that I
wonder if this isn't the work of a double agent." Catholic teaching, unlike
that represented by CFFC, has consistently opposed abortion for almost 2000
years. Other pro-abortion spokeswomen were quick to indicate that their groups
did not condone vandalism.
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3) Pennsylvania Continues the Fight
The pro-life caucus in the Pennsylvania State House successfully blocked a
recent attempt by the House Democratic leaders to include $1 million in the
1993-1994 budget for family planning services.
Rep. Richard Olasz (D) explained that the principal concern was not funding
birth control itself, but that the money "would find some way where it would
fund abortion." The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation opposed the measure for
exactly this reason: a large part of the funding would go to Planned
Parenthood.
Mary Beliveau, legislative coordinator for the Federation, explained that the
PPL Federation does not take a position on family planning or birth control,
but rather that they object to [our] tax dollars being funneled into
organizations that are in the forefront of the abortion rights movement. "Why
should the Pennsylvania Legislature fund an organization that repeatedly goes
to court to challenge laws which they have enacted?" PP has been the
consistent challenger to Pennsylvania Laws that restrict abortion, most notably
the Casey vs. PP case, and the recent attempt at blocking the enforcement of
this law (see v3n10).
Obtaining state funding for family planning has been a goal for several years
for Rep. Karen Ritter (D), who offered to include language in the bill
forbidding any use of the funding to support abortion. Ritter expressed regret
at this year's failure, as she feels that preventing unwanted pregnancies in
the first place is an issue that both sides of the abortion debate could
support. House Speaker William DeWeese also expressed regret. "I'm convinced
that for every taxpayer dollar spent attempting to prevent unwanted
pregnancies, we will save $100 down the line." - Sean Smith
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4) Announcements
INTERNATIONAL PREGNANCY LOSS RESEARCH PROJECT
We call your attention to, and urge your participation in Dr. Vincent Rue's
International Pregnancy Loss Project [IPLP]. Dr. Rue is among those
demonstrating the scientific reality of postabortion syndrome.
Have you known patients, friends or family members who were psychologically
traumatized from an abortion? Many psychologists do not believe it. For
example, the October 21, 1992 issues of the JAMA included an article by
psychiatrist Stotland which pronounced the abortion trauma syndrome a "myth"
because there is "no evidence of postabortion trauma," declaring abortion to be
psychologically safe.
While not all women experience stress from an abortion, some do. For those
that do, the effect of such biased reporting is to minimized the painful
realities of some, and to encourage further isolation and stigmatization.
Beyond the known clinical realities, a large scale study documenting the nature
and degree of psychological traumatization experienced by women and men post-
abortion is necessary to refute these inaccurate and misleading pronouncements.
Would you like to help remedy this problem of advocacy masquerading as science?
At the Institute for Pregnancy Loss, we are active in promoting public policies
that are based on accurate, objective and current information. To respond to
the void concerning abortion, we have designed and international, retro-
spective, descriptive investigation using trauma-sensitive instruments to
examine the psychological effects of pregnancy loss (defined as: spontaneous
abortion, induced abortion, stillbirth & adoption). Our sample will be
obtained from six countries: U.S., Mexico, Cuba, Columbia, Russia, and the
People's Republic of China. Future research will focus on a large prospective
U.S. study on pregnancy loss.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: We need funding and we need sites/collaborators for data
collection. We would welcome your contribution. The Institute is a private,
not-for-profit IRS 501c(3) independent research, education and treatment center
dedicated to the study of the psychological impact of human pregnancy loss.
If you would like more detailed information on this study, we have a 155 page
proposal we would be pleased to send you. If you are unable to make a
contribution to further this research, would you consider helping us by
becoming a site for data collection? Please call or write if you can join
with us. Please consider helping us launch the first study of its kind, and
help counter misinformation harmful to women's informed consent and
reproductive health decision making.
Contact: Dr. Vincent Rue, Co-Director, Institute for Pregnancy Loss
111 Bow Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801-3819 USA
(603) 431-1904
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
SCIENTISTS FOR LIFE
SFL is growing, and puts out a quarterly newsletter to about 350 people.
"Membership" is open to individuals with professional degrees in science or
related areas (broadly defined) but we are happy to send the newsletter to
anyone who is interested. We currently have no dues or subscription fee but
this may change as our list grows longer. If you are interested in signing up,
please send your [snailmail] mailing address to me ,
and I will add you to the mailing list.
- Keith Crutcher
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF EPISCOPALS FOR LIFE
Are you a pro-life Episcopal? You might be interested in the National Organ-
ization of Episcopals for Life (NOEL): Here is the address for their
communications center: "the NOEL News." (We think the whole organization is
centralized)
NOEL News
10523 Main Street, Fairfax VA 22030
(703) 591-NOEL
- Ron Graham
[ There is a similar organization for United Methodists. I managed to loose
the address though...Ed.]
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5) Reader Responses:
v3n11 Legislation Alert...
I would like to echo the suggestion that perhaps we don't want amendments to
FOCA after all. The way I see it, the present FOCA has no restrictions at all,
is completely radical, and we can say that. But if it gets debated and then
it's amended to allow parental notification and a few other basically trivial
things, then the prochoice people will be able to market the "revised,
compromise" FOCA, which will result in just about the same number of abortions
anyway. So my guess is that we're better with the ultra-crazy FOCA, even if it
passes. A revised FOCA is only the tiniest bit better for the unborn, but it
looks much less radical - A wolf in sheep's clothing, as it were.
-Michael Gorman
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
v3n11 - Chattanooga Clinic Purchase
I am a bit disturbed after reading about a group spending a quarter of a
million dollars to buy an abortion clinic at a bankruptcy sale. What exactly
was the intent of this act? To prevent abortions? I am dubious if it will do
that, even temporarily. Publicity? I'm not sure that the pro-life movement
needs this kind of publicity. This act traps the pro-life movement in the
blind alley of negatives: it definitely shows that we are _against_ abortion,
but does nothing to show that we are _for_ life.
I personally believe that this money was ill spent. Think of the alternatives:
$250,000 will fund the operating budget of a crisis pregnancy clinic (complete
with doctors and nurses) for many months; it will rent apartments and put food
on the table for homeless mothers and their children; it will fund hundreds of
hours of educational courses for young adults to teach them to understand and
respect their sexuality (instead of throwing it away in the pursuit of
chimerical happiness). In short, this money could have done something
positive, rather than making a vain and ultimately futile gesture.
Of course (and this is either cynicism or world-weary experience talking)
perhaps the "word of mouth" fund-raising campaign was successful for precisely
this reason. People could show their opposition to abortion by making a
statement, rather than actually having to do anything.
Yours in Christ, David Cruz-Uribe, SFO
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
v3n11: RU-486 to be Licensed
I was glad to see the story on RU-486. An article in May 27th's Wall Street
Journal reported that the company has tested using oral prostaglandins with
great "success" and that this is the procedure likely to be tested in the US My
memory is that it was R-U company researchers.
- Reynolds Griffith
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6) Reader Comments - An Analogy for Rescuers
Here's a little response I thought of in defense of those being arrested at
rescues outside of abortion clinics:
What the rescuers are doing outside of a clinic to stop a woman from having an
abortion correlates strongly to taking the car keys away from a drunk who is
about to get into his car to drive. The drunk, as we all know, can, not only
kill or injure himself, wreck his car, and receive a jail sentence, but also
kill or cripple innocent people.
Just like a bartender who takes the car keys from a drunk patron, or prevents
the drunk from leaving to prevent injury to others, so rescuers are there to
try to prevent or delay the harm that would otherwise be done to an innocent
human being. Comments? - Matt Marshall
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Quote of the Month:
"It is sad indeed that some pro-abortion forces in our communities are
so intolerant that they wish to abridge the rights of free speech,
peaceful free assembly, and religious practice in order to advance
their program of destruction of the lives of the unborn."
- Auxiliary Bishop Alfred Hughes
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| Credits: |
| 2 - Based on articles in the Boston Globe and the UPI for 21 and 20 May |
| (respectively). Many thanks to readers Eric Ewanco and Sean Smith |
| 3 - Based on a 30 May 1993 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article. |
| 4 - The Announcement on Research on Post Abortion Trauma comes from the UFL |
| Pro-Vita, Newsletter of the University Faculty for Life, vIII, n3, May |
| 1993, p. 6. Box 2273 Georgetwon University, Washington, DC 20057 |
|QOM- From an article in the Boston Globe, Friday May 21st, 1993 |
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Anyone desiring information on specific prolife groups, literature, tapes, or
help with problems is encouraged to contact the editor.